My impression is that too many focus on Trump’s public persona, something that he’s spent years crafting. Like an actor. He has used the press to his advantage for years. A lot of what we see is a calculated public persona.
If he was a psychological mess he wouldn’t have been able to run a successful real estate empire. If he was impulsive he wouldn’t be a successful businessman and negotiator. But we know that he manages to get big buildings built in major cities. That takes planning on many levels. That means he knows how to manage a large staff. And that he knows a lot about psychology.
Trump’s not a politician but he’s learning the game while playing in the highest league in the world, the race for the American Presidency. This first debate was Trump’s first political debate ever. He makes blunders, but he doesn’t apologize for them and grovel for forgiveness from the press. He just throws out a lot of chaff to cover his mistakes and soldiers on while proclaiming that he was the victor. One thing he does know is how to use publicity to his advantage. And before you despair too much pay attention to how Cruz gets along well with Trump. I think there is a message in that.
The thrust of my reply was not so much that Donald Trump was a psychological nightmare but that the interesting psychology was in the Republican base. As to Donald Trump, I note that Howard Hughes was also able to build an industrial empire and for a long time conduct himself as a flamboyant celebrity but Hughes was as crazy as an outhouse rat.
You raise an interesting point about Cruz. First Cruz deserves to be credited for what he says on the matter, which is that he accepts Ronald Reagan's eleventh commandment to refrain from criticism of other Republicans. That may or may not be his whole motivation.
But certainly Trump and Ted Cruz have one very important trait in common: both have stood against the Republican establishment and both have spoken out against immigration. I have long said Trump has been performing a service for Republicans in focusing attention on immigration, trade and the corruption of the Republican establishment. But I have also said that Trump is the wrong messenger with the right message.
I believe Ted Cruz is the right messenger with the right message. But his message on many issues echoes Trump's-and perhaps that is the problem, Cruz is being treated as an echo rather than as an independent conservative in his own right, and one without the serious flaws that bedevil Donald Trump (no psychological reference intended).
